“I can't believe Jinki has holed himself up in his office for so long! How am I supposed to bring him his coffee?” Kibum complained, referring to his boss that was always locked in the same room, only letting in Irene and two other officers. Everyone else was immediately turned away at the door, and the blinds hid everything going on inside the room from the outside world.
“You sound like his personal assistant. Don't tell me you're starting to fall for him,” Taemin said as he leaned back in his chair and sipped his morning latte.
Kibum panicked internally, thinking that his crush thought he liked someone else, but he soon calmed down. Even if he did like Jinki, that was okay, right? Taemin was dating someone else, after all, even if he was locked up in the interrogation room right now.
“No, it's not like that. He just needs someone to look after him here at work. Do you think he's left at all? It's been nearly two days...” Kibum mumbled to himself.

He wanted to know what was going on, but whenever he asked Irene or the other two officers, they gave him odd looks and told him it was confidential. There had never been a time in the history of him working at the station where some things couldn't be shared with the other officers. And even worse, Jinki was the one who was locked in heavy discussions with these same three people - their boss always preached honesty and transparency between everyone, yet he was the very one breaking it now.

“I'm sure that whatever it is, he'll let us know as soon as he can,” Taemin shrugged; he wasn't nearly as bothered by these happenings as his partner was. There was a good reason as to why their boss wasn't sharing the information with them, and he trusted Jinki's judgement, so he wouldn't push it.
Kibum shook it off. Worrying right now wouldn't get any cases or reports done, and he had to return back to his desk soon.
“How are you feeling about Minho and Jonghyun? Jonghyun's 72 hours are just about up, I think, if he hasn't left already,” Kibum said while sitting on Taemin's table. His friend glanced up at him with an odd grin that sent chills down Kibum's spine, “well, at least they're apart now. Maybe, with some luck, they'll get arrested and be split up permanently,”
He laughed lightly then to indicate it was a joke, and his face returned to that angelic innocent expression he usually wore.

However, Kibum couldn't shake off the comment or the look on Taemin's face when he said it, even though he tried really hard. There was just something off about it, like there was a sort of cynical sick humor behind it, and it just didn't sit right with him.

There was one person he usually turned to when he couldn't talk to Taemin for some reason - he just hoped the other man would listen to his paranoia.

Kibum approached Jinki's office, giving the door a few gentle knocks, and it opened just enough for him to see Jinki. The detective tried to look into the room to see if there was a hint about what he was working on, but Jinki's frame blocked the view.

“I know you're busy with...whatever it is you're doing, but I need to talk to you about something,” Kibum said, “I don't know who else to tell about it,”

Even though the elder man was very busy with meetings and discussions with Irene and two other officers which helped him investigate Taemin, he couldn't turn Kibum away. For one, the detective had a special place in his heart, and for two, Jinki couldn't ignore any of his colleagues if they were in need.

Jinki allowed Kibum to come inside, and he noticed all the papers on his table. He seemed to be very busy with some sort of investigation of his own, but it only confused the detective more; why wouldn't he ask for help from his other detectives (like Kibum and Taemin) who weren't too busy at the moment?
He wanted to ask, but he didn't want to keep the elder man waiting, and he didn't want to risk being chased out of the office for not having anything important to talk about like he had originally mentioned.

“It's about Taemin. I-I think he needs help, or some sort of intervention. I was speaking to him a few minutes ago, and he made this joke about Minho and Jonghyun being apart if they went to prison. I know it's not much, but it just didn't seem right to me to ignore it,” He babbled to his boss who stared at him with a grim expression.

Kibum hadn't taken much note of it earlier, but now that he stared at the elder man, he realized Jinki didn't seem to be doing well; stress seemed to be taking a toll on him as he had a dark shadow on his face the entire time, and that usual look of worry or concern when seeing one of his detectives in distress wasn't there. He just seemed...glum. Tired.

“Hm, that's concerning, you're right...” Jinki trailed off.
“I don't want to make him sound like some psycho or anything. Maybe all of this has been too much for him to handle mentally. I think it would be a good idea to send him for an evaluation, just to make sure he isn't a threat to himself, you know?” Kibum murmured with an expression of guilt and concern. He didn't want to do this to hurt Taemin in any way - he just wanted to make sure his beloved partner was truly okay.
“Yes, that's an idea, but I'm currently investigating him,” Jinki said blatantly afterwards, and Kibum's jaw nearly hit the floor.
“Investigating him? For what?! Who else knows about it?” Kibum frowned. He felt betrayed for Taemin now.
“Only Irene and one or two others so we could keep it all under wraps. As I'm sure you can imagine, not everyone in the station will be happy to hear we're suspecting one of our own of murder. So, I'm asking you to keep this a secret. I wouldn't have told you unless I saw it as absolutely necessary, and now that he's shown some alarming behavior to you, maybe you can help me with the investigation,” Jinki said with the same grim expression. The more he had to admit and explain it, the worse he felt - he knew he was right about Taemin being the killer, but he didn't know why someone as seemingly innocent as the detective would do something like that.
“So let me get this straight. You want me to investigate my own partner with you, and you expect me to keep a straight face about it when talking to him?” Kibum asked in an aggravated tone, a little annoyed with what was being asked of him. Even if he didn't have romantic feelings for his friend, he was sure he would've felt the same.

Jinki returned to his desk, then sighed. His face seemed to droop even more, like exhaustion was clinging to every pore and inch of skin and pulling it down.

“It's your choice whether or not you want to help me. I won't force you. But I will, however, demand that you not tell him about this until the investigation is concluded,” Jinki said firmly, and Kibum felt his chest seize up at the cold tone coming from his usually warm superior.
“If you won't help me further, then you're dismissed now. As you can see, I'm very busy,” He continued, and Kibum bit his lip as he watched Jinki start digging through all the papers on the table. It was odd seeing him in such disarray, and even though it was cute in a way, Kibum still felt like a naughty child being scolded by the principal.

“I'll help you. Where can I start?” He eventually decided - this seemed to be weighing on Jinki a lot, and he could use all the help he could get. Did Kibum feel like he was betraying Taemin by agreeing to this? Yes. But at the same time he knew his job came first. If Taemin really was the murderer, then he had to be brought to justice, even if Kibum didn't like it. And besides, if Jinki was looking into this thought so deeply, then there was obvious evidence pointing to Taemin being the culprit.

“I thought that if Taemin really murdered Sooyoung, he must've known her somehow. There weren't any calls to or from him in her phone, but I thought that we could go ask around her work again, maybe with photographs this time. Just because they didn't communicate digitally doesn't mean they didn't meet up in person sometimes,” Jinki said with a lighter feeling in his chest - now that he could have someone work with him on this more often than Irene (who had many other cases to attend to), he felt much more relieved. He was sure they'd get somewhere now.

“Yes, that would work. Since it's just the start of the day, why don't we go now before everyone there gets tired out from work?” Kibum offered. A part of him wanted this to be done as soon as possible, and another part of him just wanted to be proven wrong that Taemin was the killer. He couldn't believe it, and he didn't want to, but the sooner they investigated this, the sooner the truth would come out.

Jinki and Kibum drove to Sooyoung's workplace where the other detectives had been only a few days prior - nothing came out of their trip back then, and Jinki was a little worried that the same thing would happen today. He still had to try, though.

They started with her boss, but he wasn't of much help; he was too busy to really focus on the questions, and he didn't have any clear answers for them either.
Their next stop was her close colleagues, the people she worked with every day, and majority of them said they had no clue who Jonghyun, Minho or Taemin were. None of them recognized the photographs. All except one.

She was one of Sooyoung's closest friends, and a sheet of recognition layered over her face as she glanced at the photographs presented to her.

“Oh, yes, I remember these guys,” She pointed at Jonghyun and Taemin, “but not this one,” Here, she was referring to Minho.
“Did they meet with Sooyoung often?” Kibum asked before Jinki could, and the woman tapped her chin in thought with one red manicured nail for a few seconds.
“This one did,” She pointed at Taemin, “but they were never on good terms,”
“Why not?” Jinki pressed.
She hesitated as she glanced around her, as if Sooyoung was still around and was scrutinizing her to make sure she didn't speak too loud, then leaned closer to the detectives.
“She never told me his name, but she just told me he was a cop. He was dating that other guy, but they broke up, and he came to her for comfort,” She pointed at Jonghyun's photo, “they were friends for a while. But eventually, he told her that this guy was stalking him ever since they broke up,”
After confirming what she said, Kibum let out a little huff - Taemin was stalking Jonghyun. But why?
“So how did Sooyoung and this man meet?” Jinki pointed to the photograph of Taemin.
“He came here one day during lunchtime, and they spoke in the smoking section. No one smokes around here, so it was the only private area for them. She didn't tell me what he said, just that he threatened her not to say anything,” The woman continued quietly.
“She started investigating him then to find out if he was truly dangerous or not. That's when she found out he was a policeman, and she was even more determined to expose him then. She said that if he was doing such things in his spare time, then he wasn't meant to be a cop,”
“Did you hear from her on the night of the murder? Or that day sometime? Did she say anything about how her investigation was coming along?” Kibum asked.
“I heard from her that day, yes. She said she was getting close to finally reporting him to the police station, but she still had a lot of info she still had to find out. Why he was stalking the other guy, for example. Although it seemed like she knew a lot, she didn't. She only knew he was stalking her friend, that he was a cop, and that he was capable of hurting her. She also didn't have any concrete evidence which was the problem, so she couldn't approach the police yet. Not to mention they wouldn't believe her over one of their policemen,” She said with pursed lips as she glanced at the two men, as if she had just remembered they were cops. Kibum shrugged it off.
“Did she ever tell you she was fearing for her life?” Jinki changed the subject.
“Only once or twice. But that man never came back here. They met a few times outside of work, but Sooyoung never told me much details,” The woman said before she pressed her lips together.
“If that's all, I should go. I think my boss will be upset if I stay any longer...”

“The more this goes on, the more it looks like he's the killer. What do we do now, Jinki?” Kibum sighed as they approached the car. There was no doubt they were both hesitating on bringing Taemin in as a suspect because they knew him well, but now that they had this information, they couldn't hold back anymore.
“We do what we always do when dealing with suspects. We bring them in and question them,” Jinki said sternly, that cold edge on his tongue again, but Kibum knew it was only because he was upset that they had to arrest Taemin.
“When we do it, just don't let me see it. I don't want to be there when it happens,” Kibum sighed, resting the back of his head against the headrest once they were in the car.

Jinki didn't want to be there either, but he said nothing as he drove them back to the station.